Is Aish deceptive?

 Aish used to go by the name Aish Hatorah but dropped the Torah part in order to appear non-denominational. At Aish, they have been advertising a “have it your way” approach for years. Logo from 2008:

Their slogan is still in use:

Elizabeth Katzki went to Aish for entrepreneurship training. Aish promises participants a “non-judgmental atmosphere to explore their heritage at their own pace.” Is that what happens? It didn’t for Elizabeth. She writes in her 2009 blog post on JWeekly.com how an ad on Facebook interested her in a two-week trip to the Women’s’ Future Jewish Enterprisers in New York. She writes, “I was informed at the beginning of the trip that Aish HaTorah does not have any affiliation with any particular denomination of Judaism, so I was less than thrilled when bombarded with Orthodox Jewish opinions.” She continues:

I reached my breaking point when sitting down to lunch on Shabbat with a host family.  We began discussing Jewish rights [sic, should be rites] of passage, and I told them that I was confirmed and that it was a very meaningful ceremony and process for me.  My heartfelt expression was immediately rebutted with a verse from a Jewish text stating that Jews should not take traditions from other religions and that confirmation was really not a Jewish event.  Now, I know that confirmation has Christian origins, but it was a very Jewish experience for me, and to have someone discount that, a fellow Jew at that, was heartbreaking.  If this statement had come from the mouth of someone who was not Jewish, it may not have hurt so deeply, but to find out that an experience that I considered so genuine and so Jewish, was wrong in the eyes of another Jew burned. (Copy of post)

So it wasn’t non-judgmental after all, and it wasn’t non-denominational. Her experience didn’t match the promise of “Your life, Your Judaism” from Aish’s ad. Her Judaism involved a harmless confirmation ceremony that was needlessly derided by her hosts. In the end, Elizabeth was turned off by the relentless proselytizing. We see here an illustration of how false advertising and mishandling produced a bad experience. It’s as if the marketing department and the people to whom these newcomers were handed were not in communication with one another.

Is it just the Aish representative who misled Elizabeth Katzki about it being unaffiliated with any branch of Judaism? Here’s what the Aish website says about whether the organization is Orthodox: 

I enjoy reading Aish.com and I am wondering what stream of Judaism do you subscribe to?

The Aish Rabbi Replies

Aish students come from the spectrum of the Jewish world – left, right, secular, observant, affiliated and not. Aish synagogues observe Orthodox standards, but then again Aish seminars have been presented in Conservative and Reform temples.

Aish was founded to combat assimilation, alienation and indifference among Jews. We welcome Jews of all affiliations, beliefs, and traditions. We seek unity among all Jews. As educators, our goal is to re-ignite Jewish pride by teaching Jews about their heritage and its contribution to humanity.

Aish avoids labeling Jews as one type or another. That’s because every Jew is in some respect "observant." Is there any Jew who does not give charity, honor his parents, and feel a connection to the Land of Israel? Judaism is not "all-or-nothing." Aish believes first and foremost in Jewish education, for that drives one’s growth in commitment and observance.

Every time I read that I feel dizzy. Talk about obfuscating. Like the other organizations referenced here, they are pretending to be non-denominational even when asked specifically about Orthodoxy. They are the cool uncle. ‘Yeah, the building is sort of Orthodox, but you can do whatever you want here. We just want unity.’ If that’s so then why should a woman be criticized for having a Jewish confirmation ceremony?  Meanwhile, the classes at the Aish branches are all given from an Orthodox Jewish perspective. I know numerous people who work at Aish. They are all Orthodox, and not Open Orthodox, which is the most liberal branch of Orthodoxy today. I would imagine that most Aish rabbis would deem Open Orthodoxy to not be Orthodox at all. Likewise, I’ll bet that 99% of them would be quick to condemn any other branch of Judaism but Orthodoxy and do so often. Many of the Aish rabbis are ultra-Orthodox. So Aish claims to eschew labels, but when it comes down to actual classes and synagogue activity, which are the main things that they offer, they do like labels. So let’s get real. Their goal isn’t just to combat assimilation, unless by assimilation they mean life not according to Orthodox rules of practice. Aish is an Orthodox Jewish organization whose goal is to make you Orthodox. And that would be fine, if they’d be upfront about it. In my view, that would be praiseworthy.